> I got into programming before the web and was mostly self-taught,[...]. My biggest challenge was finding enough information.
I had the same problem. I had one tiny pocket book with less than 150 pages and Turbo C's built-in help system which was basically just trimmed down API docs. A list of header files which lead to a list of functions which lead to a short 1-2 sentence description.
But I still had a lot of fun.
I agree that the first language isn't that important, if you switch to something else shortly thereafter. However, I think it's a bit problematic if you keep using this one language exclusively for a couple of years.
Maybe BASIC wasn't such a bad idea. No one wants to stick with that and it's also rarely used in production. If you start with something like BASIC, you're forced to switch.
Same here, Self-Taught before the internet. Started with Basic, Flirted with C and Pascal but the lack of resources led to frustration and frequent giving up.
Managed to stick it out long enough to turn it into a career though.
I had the same problem. I had one tiny pocket book with less than 150 pages and Turbo C's built-in help system which was basically just trimmed down API docs. A list of header files which lead to a list of functions which lead to a short 1-2 sentence description.
But I still had a lot of fun.
I agree that the first language isn't that important, if you switch to something else shortly thereafter. However, I think it's a bit problematic if you keep using this one language exclusively for a couple of years.
Maybe BASIC wasn't such a bad idea. No one wants to stick with that and it's also rarely used in production. If you start with something like BASIC, you're forced to switch.